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Thanks for the Bibles, Could We Have the Land Back Now?
(December 15, 2003) Concentrated around Kenya's principal natural resources are big and small businesses whose rise has in most cases locked out local communities from the use of these resources.
Long before the multinationals came in to bottle and offer "designer" water in the market, springs and streams were regarded as communal resources to be used by all. Until very recently, the local people merely had to go into the nearest forest to collect as much fuel wood as they could carry on their backs.

Forests boss is sent packing
(December 12, 2003) The chief conservator of
forests has been sacked.Mr Gideon Gathara failed
to attend an assessment interview at the Environment ministry
headquarters in Nairobi.

Looted
billions to be repatriated - Githae
(December 2003)CONSTITUTIONAL
and Justice Assistant Minister Robinson Githae yesterday said the
Government would repatriate close to $4 billion (Sh300 billion)
allegedly looted by individuals in the previous government and
stashed in overseas bank accounts.

Loliondo
Hunting: Kenya Urged to
Take Dar to ICJ (December 8, 2003) A JOINT REPORT SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS
-
KENYAN WILDLIFE conservationists are pressing the government to
take Tanzania to the International Court of Justice in the Hague
over Dar-es-Salaam’s decision to allow seasonal hunting in its
Loliondo zone, which straddles the common border, in a dispute
that has defied settlement for close to a decade.

SOT BILL 2003
- Campaign
Against Enactment of the Suppression of Terrorism Act in KenyaThe
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs through the office
of the Attorney General in Kenya has published the Suppression of
Terrorism (SOT) Bill, 2003. This bill is meant to be the
government of Kenya’s response to the threat of terrorism. The
Bill is most likely to be tabled for discussion and enactment in
Parliament before Christmas.

Only two judges may face Appeal
tribunal
(November 18, 2003)Only two of the 23 judges suspended
in the judiciary shake-up have yet to resign – and may have
decided to fight it out in the disciplinary tribunals.They are Appeal Judges Philip Waki
and Moijo ole Keiwua – both of whose names appeared in the
Ringera report on corruption in the judiciary.

Forests: Were Leakey's Men the
Target?
(November 3, 2003)KENYA's Environment and Natural
Resources Minister Dr Newton Kulundu has denied allegations that
the suspension of more than 829 forest officers less than a
fortnight ago targeted staff perceived to be allied to the former
head of the civil service and wildlife conservationist, Dr Richard
Leakey.

Hit
by disease, deforestation and war
Colombia's last nomadic tribe faces extinction (October 29, 2003) For
thousands of years, the Nukak-Maku Indians roamed the jungles of
southeast Colombia, hunting game with blow guns and gathering
berries, as oblivious to the modern world as it was to them.

Rush
for new Aids trials
(October 09, 2003) Study
to establish if circumcision reduces HIV infections has attracted
many young men at Kisumu. offering themselves for circumcision in
a study that seeks to establish if the cut makes a man less
vulnerable to HIV infection.

Kulundu Says Country On the Verge of Becoming a
Desert(October 07, 2003)Environment and Natural Resources Minister Newton Kulundu issued the warning as the House passed a vote of Sh3.4 billion for the
ministry. Kulundu said the manner in which the country was destroying its vegetation was
worrying. He said the trend must be reversed if the country is to escape being a
desert.

GLOBAL:
Corruption still rife in Kenya, says report
(October 7, 2003) Issue: 694 - Kenya
is still ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world
despite a change of guard in the government and the fight against
corruption. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2003 shows that
Kenya is torpid with the same score it had last year at 1.9 out of
a possible 10.

How
Conservation is Destroying Africa's Traditional People (October
6, 2003) South Africa is,
however, reversing the plight of traditional people. Under the
apartheid system, blacks were made landless and private game
ownership was concentrated among whites, who controlled tourism,
writes DAVID KAIZA

Sanctity
of land title deeds causes major clash / A New Ray of Hope (
Oct 2003 )
Conflict over the interpretation of the law took centre stage with
MPs differing with Lands assistant minister Orwa Ojode on
repossession of irregularly allocated land. / Kenya is a nation of approximately 30 million inhabitants on the
East of African coast. It nestles in a chequered neighbourhood
that includes Sudan and Ethiopia to the north, Uganda to the west,
Tanzania to the south and a beautiful coastline of the Indian
Ocean to east. To the northeast is the Somalia. Its capital,
Nairobi, is at the centre of the country and is one of the largest
cities in Africa with a population of 3 million.

This
is a runners' paradise(September 13, 2003) Arithmetically,
Marakwet people form the formidable force that has seen Kenya
dominate athletics in the international circles.Talk
of a Kenyan winner in any major athletics event in any part of the
world and the chance is that this person is a Marakwet from the
remote, hilly district found in the North Rift region.

Kenya's green role model
(September 01, 2003) Wangari Maathai evokes different reactions in different people. Environmentalists around the world have hailed her conservation work, recognising it with several
awards, including the Goldman Environmental Prize – the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for environmentalists.

WRM BULLETIN
73 ( RTF )
August 2003 - Protected areas and local communities -
The Vth IUCN World Parks Congress will be held in Durban, South
Africa, from 8 to 17 September, 2003. Given that this is a 10 yearly event
which

Reclaiming
the LandA Report from the National
Constitution Conference in Kenya By Kiplangat Cheruiyot June 27,
2003 --The National
Constitution Conference, which commenced at the Bomas of Kenya on
April 28, 2003, closed on June 6 after a month and a week of
intense discussions.

Don’t
fear, Truth body tells Kenyans(June 23, 2003) East
African Standard - By Judith
Akolo - The Task Force on the
establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission
has pledged Government security for Kenyans presenting their views
before it.

No
raw materials for Kenyan wood carvers(June 21, 2003)afrol
News: - Kenya has
lost 75 percent of its international market in wood carvings due
to an increasing lack of raw materials. Hardwood trees are now so
short of supply, due to deforestation, that the reputed Kenyan
carvers have to drop productions.

Mr.Collin Church, stop this
madness.
Kenya 16/06/2003 - InSidious -
Standard Member :
I`m not certain everyone is following the drift here, Collin Church, the director of KWS, god knows if
he`s Kenyan anyway, is still spearheading the move to chop-up and sell KWS. The
chairman, Mr.Mukolwe is in on it too. Dr. Leakey opposes this move, the public opposes this
move, our forefathers would oppose this move, then why in
God`s name don`t these a-s-s wipes get it?

I Have Formed a Party, Reveals Maathai
(April 30, 2003) Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife Assistant Minister, Prof Wangari Maathai over the weekend revealed she had founded her party the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya.
Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife Assistant Minister, Prof Wangari Maathai over the weekend revealed she had founded her party the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya.

State might rethink move on
forests, court told(March 25, 2003)The government is
considering revoking a decision to excise parts of key forest land
countrywide, a court heard yesterday.State lawyer Muthoni
Kimani said consultations were going on over the government
decision to alter boundaries involving 175, 000 acres.

Green Smokescreen Judge feels the Heat
News Update (March 11, 2003) Justice Oguk quits
- Embattled Mr Justice
Samuel Oguk has quit the bench. A brief statement from
State House said President Kibaki had accepted the High Court
judge's resignation. First signs that Mr
Justice Oguk was considering resigning came last Friday, with
reports that he had cleared his chambers at the Nairobi Law Courts.

A
glaring case of policy contradictions(March 10,
2003)When the Ogiek in 1999
filed a case in the High Court to stop the government from
evicting them from Tinet forest, the government opposed the
application on grounds that the forest was an important water
catchment area. But only a year later, the government inexplicably
sought to excise huge chunks of the forest ...

After Such
Knowledge, What Forgiveness?
(February 17, 2003)There is a malicious child in all of
us who delights, however furtively, in seeing people finally get
what is coming to them. I know many of you shared my glee at the
sight of our new Minister for Tourism striding through the
Kenyatta International Conference Centre to reclaim it from Kanu.
The KICC is a fitting symbol of what the Moi regime took from us.
Karma got Kanu in the end!

In
a global show of solidarity with the Bushmen of Botswana, 100,000
people around the world have signed a petition calling for them to
be allowed to live on their own lands in peace.The
petition is being handed in this week to Botswana embassies in 11
countries: South Africa, Japan, USA, Germany, Spain, Zimbabwe, UK,
Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Kenya. In Kenya the petition was
delivered by members of the Ogiek tribe, another persecuted
hunter-gatherer people, in a show of trans-African solidarity.

UNEP
Supports Protection Of Minority Ethnic Groups
NAIROBI (AANA) February 10 - The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) has stressed a commitment to protect the interest
of marginalised minority groups, saying their wealth on indigenous
knowledge could serve to preserve biodiversity.

How Govt destroyed our forests
(January 16, 2003)In the 1960s, undergraduates in
Canada, Britain and Nigeria – where many of Kenya’s foresters
were trained – were often referred to our forests as examples of
good management.

Victory!
1/15/03
The landslide election of president Mwai Kibaki on December 27,
2002, brings hope for a more democratic, less corrupt, and more
environmentally responsible government in Kenya. Professor Wangari
Maathai, famed leader of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, was named
Vice Minister of the Environment. Logging and private land
allocations in the forests that former president Moi removed from
protected status have been stopped.

Maathai: Change Kenya to Benefit People
INTERVIEW (January 01, 2003) Professor Wangari Maathai is a popular and respected Kenyan and a world renowned
environmentalist, who rose to fame for her spirited campaigns against government-backed forest
clearance. Maathai is also one of a new crop of MPs in Kenya, elected to parliament on the opposition National Rainbow Coalition
(Narc) ticket.